"Sir Mark, that's one of our best-sellers!" Jerome and Jenalyn of Novo7Tech at Lucky Chinatown Mall told me when I asked them about the sales performance of their Lenovo K3 Note.

I visited the store last night. And I was happy to learn that they actually are familiar with me and TechPinas -- mainly because of my interview videos with Sir Adrian that they'd play on loop at the shop for buyers.

Sidenote: From selling only THL, Meizu, and Zopo smartphones, Novo7Tech now sells handsets and other devices - including, headphones, powerbanks - from other Chinese electronics companies. Aside from their previous phone brand offerings, they now also carry Huawei and Lenovo products.

I remember featuring Lenovo K3 Note on TP a couple of weeks before the handset was launched by the company in China. And from the get go, I've always known that it will be well-received by consumers. I mean, who wouldn't be attracted to an affordable powerhouse handset?

The K3 Note is largely based on the best-selling Lenovo A7000, which was launched in the Philippines earlier this year donning a price tag of Php 7,390.

The two models have the exact same design identity but Lenovo K3 Note has superior technical specifications in practically all departments.

Just for comparison: Lenovo A7000 is equipped with a 5.5-inch 720 x 1280 pixels HD IPS display, an 8 MegaPixel autofocus main camera with Dual LED flash, a 64-Bit 1.5 GHz MediaTek MT6752M chip at its heart, 8 GB of ROM, and a 2,900 mAh battery.

On the other hand, Lenovo K3 Note - which costs just around Php 1,000 more than A7000 - sports a 5.5-inch 1080 x 1920 pixels Full HD IPS panel, a 13 MegaPixel autofocus main camera with LED flash, and is powered by a 3,000 mAh Li-Po pack. Under the hood, the phablet runs its Vibe UI skinned Android 5.0 Lollipop OS with a 64-Bit 1.7 GHz Octa Core MediaTek MT6752 SoC - which is more powerful than the one with an M suffix - and has 16 GB of expandable storage. In short, K3 Note has a more crisp display, a higher resolution main shooter, and more powerful internal hardware.

Nonetheless, both handsets have Dual SIM Dual Standby capability, LTE connectivity support, 5 MegaPixel selfie cam with BSI sensor and Dolby Atmos sound enhancement technology, which greatly improves the user's music listening experience by allowing him to choose and tweak pre-set audio modes depending on his or her taste.

As some of you know, I own a Lenovo A7000 c/o LazadaPH and I have to say that it's an amazing smartphone for just Php 7,390. When it comes to touch response, gaming performance, and imaging capabilities, A7000 is certainly the handset to beat in that particular price echelon. I recommend it.

However, if you don't mind spending a thousand bucks more, then go ahead and get Lenovo K3 Note. Considering all the enhancements that I mentioned, I think this phablet definitely gives great value for that additional amount.

Lenovo K3 Note is now available at all Novo7Tech stores nationwide. You can get it for Php 8,399 - via the company's on-going gadget sale - with free monopod for selfies. There are three color options, namely, Onyx Black, Laser Yellow, and Pearl White.